The ethics of vaccination

Vaccines are distributed across the world and we desperately need them if we are to successfully control some our most deadly infectious diseases. But they also require vast sums of money and expertise - on the part of academic institutions and private companies - to develop, manufacture and ultimately, dispatch worldwide. They thus have the power to save lives and rapidly divide opinion, with governments at odds with some individuals over the way that vaccination may or may not infringe on their rights.

Don't just focus on bats and their viruses

Spot the bat

I just wanted to alert people to this opinion piece on an Australian website discussing the role that bats play in harboring deadly viruses. This isn't an ordinary piece, it was written by a guy called Linfa Wang. You may not have heard of him but he's a pretty important person in virology, especially if you're interested in bats and their microbes. He is the head of virology at Australia's Animal Health Laboratory and is an expert in finding new bat viruses.

More UK mumps outbreaks in Glasgow, Scotland.

Typical mumps swelling.

I've written about this a lot - which isn't all that surprising given that our lab is one of a handful working on the virus - but mumps has struck again, this time raising it's head in Scotland. Here's a nice article.

The University of Glasgow has experienced more than the usual (a handful probably) of cases of mumps infection. Currently 15 students have been diagnosed with the virus which usually causes swollen salivary glands under the neck, although a number of more serious symptoms can result. The University is working closely with the community control the outbreak and to vaccinate those unprotected.

Of TB, smallpox and old New York quarantine centres

North Brother Island, found within the middle of East River in New York City has a fascinating history. It houses the ruins of a 19th century solution to infectious diseases in the urban environment: an old quarantine centre, the last of it's kind in the US. See the Daily Mail article here for pictures.

Before it's closure in 1963, Riverside hospital as it was known, saw to the care of those infected with the likes of smallpox, tuberculosis, leprosy and typhoid. In fact, it first gained notoriaty after caring for one of the more infamous of Irish women, a cook known as Typhoid Mary. Now nearly half a decade after shutting down, a local historian has been given rare access to document what a difference fifty years makes.

Do we really need a new measles vaccine?

Measles, that deadly childhood infectious disease is almost a distant memory to most people nowadays, that is except for a few isolated outbreaks across the US and Europe. This is all because of a really amazing preventative therapy: the vaccine.

Vaccines are great. They are by far the most effective means that we have to control - and hopefully eradicate - infectious diseases from a range of species. Measles is one of these diseases that, over the last half a decade or so, we have backed into a corner across the world. Before the introduction of global immunisation the measles virus caused around 2.6 million deaths, most of which were children. To show just how great the vaccine is: 2008 saw only 164,000 deaths (see the WHO data here). A big number still but a 97% decrease in associated fatalities is pretty impressive, so why then - in an editorial piece in the esteemed journal Vaccine, are they calling for researchers to develop a new vaccine?

Certain strains put a strain on virus research

This is something I would like your input on: 

How important is strain choice in virus/microbiology research? 

Does it differ with certain aspects of research, like pathogenesis versus structural studies?

How far do we discount studies done on less 'wild-type' viruses?

How come people are happy working with these viruses?

We microbiologists uncover the secrets of how microbes interact with their hosts in order to better understand the infection process. We can use this knowledge to allow us to develop antiviral treatments, preventative vaccines and important applications for these molecular parasites, such as anti-cancer therapies.

All of this requires that we are studying what is real and what is actually going on in the world around us. This is all the more important when peoples lives depend on our work and when we are dependent on tax payers money to fund the research. Generally, this seems very obvious but you would be surprised about how much work is done on by far less-than-perfect viruses. This is because there a number of hurdles in the path of us understanding what is real-life.

Why you should be at this Spring's Society for General Microbiology conference in Dublin

From the 26th to the 29th of March this year, Dublin - the capital of the Republic of Ireland - will host the Spring conference of the Society for General Microbiology, the UK's (make that Europe's) major group for all things microbial. Most importantly, according to wikipedia it was founded in 1945 by none other than Alexander Fleming, plus the city is now becoming pretty cheap to live and stay in and has the best Guinness in the world - what more do you want from a science meeting?

Dublin at night -http://www.runawayjane.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/DublinRiverLiffey.jpg

Notes on a year in blogging

First, a little history about this blog - there's some comments from annual review below:

I was first exposed to world of blogging during my final year at university when a lecturer in a human genetics module suggested we took a look at one particular post regarding the sequencing of a genome belonging to an ancient human. This piece of writing was informative, entertaining and extremely relevant to what we were studying. This was a post on Ed Yong's, Not Exactly Rocket Science blog and it probably first set me off on wanting to write about science.

HIV restriction factor blocks respiratory viruses - but not how we thought

Measles virus - is it targeted by an HIV restriction factor?

Cellular organisms have evolved multiple defences to keep viruses and other genetic parasites at bay. One such shield is the development of an advanced adaptive immune system seen in vertebrates while another is the more evolutionary widespread 'innate' system made up of various expressed proteins and small RNAs. These molecules prevent particular stages of the viral replication cycle like entry, replication or exit. 

Another mechanism is to mutate the virus out of existence, i.e. change nucleotides throughout the viral genome so much so as to effectively knock-out that protein's function during infection and slow down replication so much so to allow your bodies' other defences to clear it. Since 2002 we have had tantalising clues that this is functioning during a viral infection, particular HIV and other retroviruses:

Isolation of a human gene that inhibits HIV-1 infection and is suppressed by the viral Vif protein.

2011 in virology at Ruleof6ix

2011 was a big year for me and blogging; my first post on the site was during the first week of this year so this makes it a perfect opportunity to now review what I have actually been talked about over the last 52 weeks. I'll highlight the top ten most viewed posts on my site below. Happy holidays everyone and have a great new year. 

10: Smallpox devastated human populations for hundreds of years until it's eradication last century, but where did it come from? Phylogenetics of a large number of natural smallpox isolates document this pathogen's emergence and spread across the world.

9: Ebola virus infection of humans and other primates leads to a dramatic immune response that ends in hemorrhage and death - but how does this virus make your body go into overdrive? This year, researchers show that it may have something to do a 'superantigen'.

8: RNA viruses are one of - if not the most - rapidly evolving organisms on earth. This is bad news for treating these pathogens with antiviral drugs but how does this fast evolution contribute to viral disease? Does it allow the virus to move around the body?

7: Measles is one of the most infectious viruses known to man - but how exactly does it do this? Two papers out this year uncovered a possible mechanism responsible for this virus's ability to spread between humans. They identified the protein nectin-4 as the receptor this virus uses to escape from your body from inside your respiratory tract.

6: We are all used to the fossilised remains of dinosaurs and other ancient animals, but what about fossilised viruses? A paper this year put forward evidence suggesting that some dinosaurs were infected with a close relative of measles virus.

5: Earlier this year, researchers generated the first efficiently genetically modified cat litter. They used this to tease apart the role of one gene in protecting against the feline version of AIDS.

4: Our vaccine against smallpox - the vaccinia virus vaccine - has been used for hundreds of years. But where did it come from? And from what did it originate? Turns out it's not as clear cut as previously thought - or so phylogenetic studies show.

3: Is there a viral origin to some cases of high blood pressure? I highlight the recent link between cytomegalovirus infection and hypertension in humans.

2: Exactly how do some viruses make us vomit? Researchers documented a mechanism joining rotavirus gut infection with the vomit-centres inside our brains.

1: Recent mumps virus outbreaks - I discuss the reasons behind the dramatic rise in the last few years of this historically common childhood pathogen and what we could do to prevent it in the future.

Another round-up of the year re: pathogens and viruses are over at Virology Blog and Contagions.